checked my nitrate for the first time ever

...Thus the "cheap" part -- get whatchya pay for. Bottom line is that there are alternative's and its really a necessity. you can only let something go for so long before you're really asking for a problem. I use probes all the time and a PH monitor.

 

What do you mean, "for something you didn't need to check in the first place"?

If you want to keep anything living in your tank, you need to check nitrates consistently. Nothing other than fish will tolerate high nitrates, and a whole lot of fish won't take them past a point; levels higher than about 10ppm will begin to weaken their immune systems, making them more susceptible to ich, velvet, and a myriad of other diseases. Nitrates will promote algae blooms, dinoflagellates, cyanobacteria, and diatoms too.

Nitrates are generally a poison to living things, and if you think it "didn't need to be checked", you're going to have something die on you.

 

lol i'm really just joking around, my tank is pretty much fully stocked and i just do my upkeep and never test for anything anyway, thats just me. i do my water changes and assume everything well. this all kinda started when i let my lfs guy know that i dont test anything and after a few months he convinced me that"if i was only going to have one test kit it should be nitrate" that was yesterday and i'm actually glad i got it because while i was waiting the five minutes for it 2 gel or whatever i really had no idea how it would turn out,it very well could have been 180 ppm, and then i wouldnt be on here busting about test kits:

 

If it was 180 you would have been on here posting algae problems, ailing fish and sad corals....I hear ya. Everyone is different, and what works for one may not work for the next....good luck with your new shiny test kit !

 

Heh, if it were 180, he'd be even more likely to be posting about algae problems. Macros don't live with nitrates that high, and neither do corallines, so there would be no way of having the micros in check through competition.

 

If its anything I have learned in my short time in this hobby its keep up on water changes. THIS IS KEY. This prevents your from having to test as much or guess when you have a chemistry problem. Some things we can test for but somthings we can not and we will be pulling are hair out trying to figure it out. In the meantime you end up having found a problem to which a water change was the solution the whole time. Nitrates,phosphates,ick,are all things we know are NOT in RO water.

 

LOL – if there is anything I have learned in. many many years is that you can get around water changes if you want to ! I do them now more or less to have something to do.

But with a refugium, RO/DI top off, and the proper mix of filter media…you can avoid changes all together…heck, I did it this way for several years.

 

Yes it can be done but if your having problems that lead you to believe you need to test than your system is not doing enough to exclude a water change.

 

Absolutely.

 

ahhh!! thats what i'm talking about! my whole approach has been to change as much water as i can as often as i can. i.m.o it's an almost bulletproof technique for anyone who wants to keep a mixed reef of softies a couple easy l.p.s and an anemone. what i would call your "basic reef tank setup" i usually do 5 gallons a week but will be upping it to ten after i get the nitrates down to under 20ppm. it boggles some folks mind when they hear that in addition to not testing anything ever i am also sumpless and skimmerless and just run 2 koralia 4's one full time and one on for 15 minutes every hour.
"theres a million ways to skin a cat"